Egao
by a walking contradiction
Summary: AU. YAOI. Resigned to his fate, Heero Yuy lives his life in monotony. But things start to get interesting when a violet-eyed Shinigami told him that he only has one day to live.


_A/N_:_ Shin Kidousenki Gundam Wing is not mine. I got the idea of a Shinigami from the anime "Full Moon wo Sagashite". Please excuse any quirks on my writing. I'm still trying to improve. This story contains yaoi or homosexual relationship. If you can't stand YAOI, SCRAM. Any kind of comment will be most welcomed._

_Summary: Resigned to his fate, Hero Yuy lives his life in monotony. But things starts to get interesting when a violet-eyed Shinigami told him that he only has one day to live._

_Here it goes…_

**EGAO**

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_--Tsumetai__ toki ga yume o furaseru_

_Kono__ te no naka o suri nukete_

_Negai__ kazoe mezameta toki ni_

_Yureru__ maboroshi ni kimi ga utsuru_

_Boku__ o michibiku kasu kana shiruetto _

_--The cold times make dreams fall like rain and slip_

_through__ my hands._

_When I woke up from the countless wishes, you are _

_reflected__ in a shimmering _

_illusion__—_

_the__ silhouette whose faint smile leads me along. _

_ —'Glaring Dream', Gravitation ED Song _

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_MORNING _

He was walking down an endless, infinite street with no beginning and not one sign of an ending. People gathered around him, and all of them were faceless shadows—laughing, pouting, grinning, and smiling. It was as if everyone was wearing a featureless mask of anonymity with dark eyeholes empty and a gaping hole for the mouth; hypocrites strolling leisurely along the street on this darkly lit day.

His blank eyes were staring ahead, but he was tempted to look around and search for people with faces, finding that seeing them as is was bothering him.His eyebrows furrowed in a semblance of a frown at that. _Bothered?_ He didn't know if it was possible for someone like him to be bothered by such a trivial thing.__

A sudden burst of laughter made him do what he was tempted to. He turned his head to the left at the source of that happy sound and blinked at the sight. A blond boy with sparkling aquamarine eyes was laughing beside a tall boy with brown hair falling to one side of his face and clear green eyes. Their hands were clasped together and both wore a content look on their beaming faces.

_How come I can see their faces?_ He wondered as he stared some more. _Quatre and Trowa look so **together**—_

"Heh. Ain't it a pretty sight…"

He blinked again, cobalt blue eyes shifting to his side where a boy with violet eyes and ebony black wings was looking at his 'friends' with a silly grin on his face. He was dressed in a priest's black attire, his long hair braided and falling just short his hips like a brown rope between his set of wings.

"Look at all of them crazy people gazing pointedly at your friends. Makes you wanna punch them or something, huh?" the boy continued, glancing around with narrowed eyes. True enough, there were a few faceless people staring at the couple with disapproving frowns on their 'masks'.

He bowed his head slightly. "I wouldn't know. I cannot feel."

Big violet eyes looked at him with surprise as the boy's mouth hung open. But curious intent quickly replaced it. "Really?"

He nodded.

The boy frowned. "But they're your friends, right?"

"That was in the past," he answered, shifting his head to look at the couple once more. _A past I can't remember all that well, _he thought.

"Geez, this is new!" The winged boy stared longer this time, as if contemplating him like a big complicated puzzle. He would have thought it was irritating when a stranger stared at him like that, but he was incapable of feeling—a machine on his own right—and also as emotionless.

The boy grew tired of staring and scratched his head in a frustrated manner. "Sheesh… why do I feel guilty all of the sudden? It isn't as if I'm going to kill you… all I have to do is deliver your soul…" he muttered, pouting sullenly.

He inclined his head to the left. _Die…?_

His lips stretched into a smile. _It is time._

_Yes… an ending to my nonexistent life would be pleasing… _

He opened his eyes as ribbons of sunlight appeared, heralding the arrival of morning. Soft sounds of nature were mixed with the noise of human existence in the neighborhood as another day in Heero Yuy's life started.

As always, Heero rearranged his bed and went to the kitchen of his apartment after showering and putting on his usual green tank top and jeans for school. He prepared his customary sandwich and black coffee, and then placed them on the table to start eating. All his movements were calculated—an average-sized bite, four chews, then swallow. Bite, four chews, then swallow. The three-step process continued until the sandwich was no more. He finished his coffee in six sips, and all these were done in a span of exactly twelve minutes.

After cleaning the table, he grabbed his backpack from its place by the counter beside the door and went out, his hand automatically reaching out on the tabletop for the keys. Twin brows lifted in mild surprise when his hand found nothing. He groped again, unable to believe that the keys were not in their usual spot.

Nothing.

He looked down, and confirmed the missing keys.

"Hn." He went inside his apartment once more to look for the keys, going to his room first. He honestly couldn't remember placing the keys on a different place. And it grated at him because it was interfering with his schedule. He entered his immaculate room, his gaze sweeping its entirety. But he didn't find any keys.

Heero grunted. It was _definitely_ interfering with his schedule.

"Looking for these?"

A distinct jingle of keys sounded behind him after the question. It registered to his mind that a stranger was inside his apartment, probably a mugger or a killer… But he didn't care.

Heero turned around and faced a black-clad boy whose index finger was raised and spinning the keys in circles. He stared in mild surprise as he recognized the winged boy from his dream, and he couldn't help but arch his brow when he saw the position the boy was in. Only half of his body (from his torso to his head) could be seen, while the other half was immersed through the wall opposite the door of his room.

Others would have shriek in surprise or in horror, but Heero Yuy didn't consider himself included with 'others' simply because _he wasn't_. So he stood there with his eyes blankly looking at the half-exposed body of the braided boy—the only indication of his curiosity was his slightly inclined head.

The boy was grinning just like in Heero's dream, his violet eyes twinkling with glee from… whatever it was he found funny. After a minute of standing on the corridor staring at each other, the boy pouted and shook his head. "Jeez, that didn't scare you?"

"No."

The other sighed. "Oh, well." The violet-eyed boy flapped his knee-length wings, floated from his position (his lower body appeared), and landed in front of Heero. The mischievous grin was back on his elfin face. "Can you guess what I am?"

One brow raised. "Angel?"

The boy smirked in sardonic amusement. "It's the opposite. I'm a Shinigami."

Heero stared at the boy from his feet to the top of his head. "A God of Death."

"Yep!" Another grin. "The name's Duo. I may run and hide, but I never tell a lie! Nice ta meet ya!"

Heero continued to stare. "Shinigami…" A tiny smile passed through his stoic face momentarily, followed by a staid question, "When will I die?"

The Shinigami cringed at the straightforward question. Duo had expected it, and he was _always_ ready for the answer. But for someone to ask it outright? No tears, no protests… not even denial? And then there was that expression of bliss that crossed the boy's face for a moment, one of the very few emotions that he saw since his 'visit' in the other boy's dream last night.

Was he actually happy to die? 

The black winged boy was utterly mesmerized by the one-second flick of emotion on the blank face that he nearly forgot to answer Heero's question. Heero waited, his patience infinite as always. After some time, Duo became aware of the growing silence and blinked rapidly at the slender boy. "Er… what was that?"

"I asked when will I die."

Violet eyes widened. "Oh, right. When, huh?" The braided boy raised his arms and clasped his hands behind his neck. "I've been sent to deliver your soul when the day ends. Last night, I was watching over you when I kinda stumbled upon your dream… I didn't expect you to see me—you're not supposed to but you did—and well, I just wanted to come here, so here I am."

"Who sent you?"

Duo avoided his gaze and pointed upwards.

One raised brow was Heero's reaction.

Duo continued to avoid him, and looked at the ceiling instead.

"Why are you doing here? It's too early for me to die." Why did he even bother to ask the question? He shouldn't be that curious… it wasn't like him_. _He was emotionless, had been ever since his accident the year before. Although come to think of it, he couldn't remember his accident, or the vague year that passed by afterwards. His memory had been this useless for the whole year, because of the brain tumor the accident gave him.

Not that he cared about recalling. Although he did lose something important from that accident… he knew he had… he just couldn't remember what.

But upon looking at the youthful face, twinkling eyes and ebony wings of the other boy, Heero suddenly wanted to… remember? He lightly shook his head as Duo started to whistle. After some time of staring on the part of Heero, Duo sighed and raised his arms in a defeated manner. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you…" He huffed. "Sheesh… can't you wait for the answer?"

"You're not willing to tell me," came the placid answer.

The violet-eyed boy pouted. "Fine! Guilty as charged! I said I'd tell you." The pout dissolved into a grim line. "Let's just say something about your dream intrigued me." He stared at Heero seriously. "Hey, Heero? Can I ask you something? Have you always been like this?"

Heero gazed at him with a look that the Shinigami interpreted as 'puzzled'. "Like what?"

"Like a living corpse!" Duo cried while flailing his arms in an exasperated gesture. "You look about as lively as a doll!"

"Hn." What a perfect analogy. A doll. Lifeless. And in less than twenty-four hours, because of his tumor, he'll also be as cold as a corpse.

And as if on cue, his head was besieged by a sudden acute pain that was instantaneous, horrific, and consuming. It felt as though it had been flayed, hot flames shooting through like thousands of sharp knives. Along with the pain, his vision blurred, his stomach lurched, and his head spun. The only thing that kept him from blacking out was the strong pair of arms that helped him to stand.

"Hey! HEY! Don't you dare die on me!"

What? Can't hear you… 

"Damn it! Your time isn't until midnight! Hey! Wake up! WAKE UP!"

Can't hear… 

"_MEO_ _AKETE_!"

Heero heard those last two words and he didn't know why but he opened his eyes, responding to the other boy. "Ne, how did you learn to speak Nihongo?" he asked, his words in a slur.

Duo, wanting to ease the pain he knew the other was feeling, forced a grin and winked at the suffering boy. "I'm a Shinigami. I have to know about things like languages! What with all the souls I have to deliver to the spirit world. Japanese is just normal for me." The braided boy half carried Heero to the couch as the latter's lips twitched. "_Sou_ _desu_," Heero murmured.

"I take it you're Japanese?"

Heero nodded slowly, raising his hand to his head after finding a comfortable position on the couch. Duo looked on, peering worriedly at his charge. "Are you okay now? Do you need anything? Water? Food? Medicine?"

The boy shook his head, then clutched it with a pain-filled groan as another burst of pain shot through. "_Iie_. _Nandemonai_. I haven't bothered following the doctor's orders since I am going to die anyway," he said after the pain subsided, his tone as calm as his pale face.

Duo scowled fiercely. "EH!? Why d'you do that? Are you nuts? Do you really want to die? Shit, if you die one second before your appointed time, I'm screwed!" The ebony-winged boy moaned, gesturing wildly with his arms, his violet eyes as big as they could be.

"Why is that?" he asked while his eyes widened slightly. What the..? Heero Yuy? _Curious?_

But the Shinigami didn't see his charge's reaction as he was busy counting off his reasons. "…Chief will have my head if something happens to the schedule, but most of all, nobody can change _fate_!" He looked expectantly at Heero. "By the way, can I come with to your school?"

"_Nani_?" _YUY! What the hell are you doing?!_ But Heero ignored the voice in his head and frowned at Duo. "Why would you want to do that?"

Duo's mouth opened in astonishment at the frown, his lips stretching into a wide smile. "Because," he said, crossing his arms on his chest, "you need me!"

_Need him? Rubbish. _ "_Iya_."

"Ha! As if I care 'bout what you would say! I'm going and that's that! It's a good thing I even asked for your permission!" He pouted, gazing seriously at Heero. "What if you collapse again? People won't see me, only you can. And I promise to behave myself." When the cocky stance didn't seem to faze the sick boy, he resorted to another tactic. He turned big, pleading violet eyes to Heero. "PLEASE! I'll be good!"

Heero was immune to those pleading gazes… But he oddly had this impulsive thought of agreeing with Duo's idea. Heero warily let the matter drop. Besides, he doesn't have control over the Shinigami's action. If he wanted to come, then so be it.

_You're being impulsive_, the voice in his head said quietly.

_I don't care_, Heero thought rashly. _Not now when I'm close to dying_. It was strange, how a small part of him wanted to enjoy what little time he had left and enabled him to react and to break out of his shell of indifference.

Was it because of this person..? 

The cobalt-eyed boy stared at the black-clad figure of his Shinigami, who was still looking at him with big puppy eyes. Gazing at the boy, one wouldn't expect that he was a Shinigami. Except for the ebony wings, nothing about him implied "Death". In fact, he exuded an aura of unrestrained energy, as if it would kill him again to remain unmoving, as if he wasn't already dead. So full of life… in contrast to Heero, who was still breathing, but was so… lifeless.

Heero sighed. _Life's irony._ He held out his hand for the keys, and Duo, understanding the gesture of surrender, yelped in success.

They were heading toward Heero's school when they were stopped by a shout from the opposite street.

"Hey, Heero!" A blond boy with soft, aquamarine eyes waved at him, smiling broadly at his friend. Heero looked on as the boy crossed the street between them to get to him. Duo, who was floating beside him, peered curiously at the blond boy he had first seen in his charge's dream last night.

"Hmm… so he's the one who's in love with the tall boy!" Duo whispered to Heero as the other boy grunted in answer. An eyebrow arched at that. "Did you know about their feelings for each other?" Duo asked, his curiosity piqued.

"I suspected last night. Although I don't think Quatre knows about Trowa's feelings, and vice versa." He looked at the approaching boy, nodding his head abruptly. "Quatre," Heero acknowledged. In answer, the blond boy smiled brightly.

_Whoa!_ Duo thought, lifting his hand to shield his eyes. _Talk about a blinding smile!_

"Good morning, Heero! It's a lovely day today, isn't it?" he asked, falling beside Heero, who started walking again.

Heero stared at his 'friend'. Then he inclined his head. "If you say so. Where is Trowa?"

Quatre blinked, looking intently at Heero. But he answered his friend anyway. "Well, Trowa went to school earlier than usual because he had a project to pass to his History teacher." He continued to stare, the happy expression on his face rapidly diminishing into a worried frown. "Are you all right, Heero?"

Heero nodded. "_Hai_. Why did you ask?"

Quatre blinked in surprise again. This was a great shock for him, to hear his impassive friend asked a question. Usually, his answer would be a grunt, a nod, or a shake of his head. He rarely spoke, but he **never** asked anything.

Heero had been like this for the past year after the accident. It had been a terrible blow to him… first, the accident, then the tumor, and then seeing the death of his boyfriend. Quatre and Trowa were able to grieve for their other friend, but Heero at that time retreated to his own world of oblivion. Gone was their coolly intelligent and multi-talented friend who excelled in many subjects and sports, and in place was a perfect doll who moved because he was _obligated_ to, not because he _wanted_ to.

But now, he was asking Quatre a question.

Quatre laughed, he couldn't help it. He wanted to hug his friend, but he knew Heero would feel uncomfortable. So instead of embracing him, Quatre laughed, feeling as if a heavy weight disappeared from his shoulders. "No, it's nothing!" he said after a moment, a big smile remaining on his face. "C'mon, Heero! Trowa's probably waiting for us!"

Duo sniggered in amusement when the slender blond boy herded the Japanese boy into the school. He watched over his charge and his friend, and for a moment, a wave of nostalgia washed over him, filling him with an indescribable combination of sadness and longing that rendered him motionless.

_"Eien ni, Duo…" _

Duo shook his head, the soft whisper of memory dissolving into a headache. As a Shinigami, he was forbidden to remember his life when he was still living because it was the past. He was a Shinigami now, and to remember would only interfere with his responsibilities. Besides, he would become a ghost if he persisted on remembering, a restless spirit that would roam the world because of his regrets upon dying…

Duo sighed and followed his charge inside the school.

TBC… 

A/N: _Actually, this should've been a one-shot fic, but I find that it's quite long for a one-shot. I'll find time to finish the next chapters. The second chapter is halfway done._

_If you can't understand the Japanese words/phrases, you can ask me what they mean._

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